


Courting Habits

by Chiisanafukuro (makuro)



Series: Galra Habits (Galra Shiro AU) [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Galra!Shiro AU, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, blink and you miss it gore mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 00:29:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17436410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makuro/pseuds/Chiisanafukuro
Summary: Becoming the Black Paladin of Voltron. An Altean Princess. A ten-thousand year war. Discovering Galra genes and rebel heritage. Finding his mother. None of it was what he thought would come out of a giant robot in the desert. Not that one could anticipate what a piece of sentient tech would herald.Keith had really not anticipated Shiro.





	Courting Habits

**Author's Note:**

> [@Jotakorium](https://twitter.com/Jotakorium) Galra AU is still a thing because Big is GOOD. 
> 
> Huge thanks to Nautilicious for betaing!

Finding a red lion robot in the desert when he was sixteen left Keith in a constant state of unexpected situations. 

He’d followed the strange calling in his gut out into the canyon, finding the beast behind a blue forcefield. Terrified he bolted to his dad’s house. Out of breath and bewildered he recounted what he’d seen. Without a word his father had gone to the locked chest in the living room and drew out a knife. 

“There are things we need to talk about, son.” 

He promised his dad he wouldn’t tell anyone about the lion. 

At least, he tried not to. Then one day after class Keith had caught sight of a younger cadets notebook, filled with notes on lions and something called Voltron. When Keith corned them, they’d sheepishly admitted to trying to listen for alien chatter and _finding it_. 

The next series of events was a whirlwind. Keith going out to the lion. Lance, Hunk and Pidge tailing him. Lance of all people waking the lion up. Red catapulting them into space to fend off a Galra ship and fling them through a wormhole. 

Becoming the Black Paladin of Voltron. An Altean Princess. A ten-thousand year war. Discovering Galra genes and rebel heritage. Finding his mother. None of it was what he thought would come out of a giant robot in the desert. Not that one could anticipate what a piece of sentient tech would herald. 

Keith had really not anticipated Shiro. 

The giant Galra had caught him unaware on a recon mission. He got Keith pinned in a matter of seconds and Keith resorted to his mother’s blade. Shiro, seeing a Marmora blade on someone clearly _not_ a Blade, had knocked Keith out. 

Keith woke up to the trials and bitterly bashed his way through them into reuniting with his mother. When all was said and done he owed Shiro quite a bit for kidnapping him. Between them the roots of the Voltron Coalition had formed, the two groups forming one. Joint missions led to Shiro and Keith growing close, often the main communication point. When he could Keith would help the Blades, almost always helping Shiro out with his missions. 

Kolivan always looked like he was sucking on lemons when he saw them together. His mother was quiet but not as sour about it. Antok said a million little things under his breath that made Shiro growl each time he overheard them. Keith had no clue what to make of any of it. 

He figured it was the Blades not liking the favoritism Shiro showed Keith whenever they worked together. He left it at that for his own sanity. If he started reading into the gestures, the ridiculous crush he was sporting was going to grow out of control. 

The most recent thing that Keith did not anticipate, however, was getting crushed during a ground battle. 

He remembered fighting by Shiro. He remembered being overwhelmed by soldiers. Just when he was about to cut through enough to gain the upper hand a cannon had gone off and he was buried in the crumbling nearby building. 

It got really hazy from there. 

Mostly it was pain, and then large, shaking hands trying to extract him from the rubble. That pain made him pass out. His next memory was of being in Black, but it wasn’t him _piloting_ Black. 

Now he was being carried through a Marmora base. A deep voice boomed out for others to get out of the way. 

Med bay. Too many lights and hands. Ulaz’s voice above him. 

“Did the whole building fall on him?” 

“Yes.” 

“I see… an Altean pod would be good, right now.”

“They’re pinned by a fleet, until the others finish taking it out there is _no pod_ , Ulaz.” That was Shiro, desperate and scared. 

Ulaz sighed. “I am sorry small one, but this is going to hurt.” He took Keith’s leg, his fingers reaching down into where flesh was exposing Keith’s soft insides. 

Keith howled. 

Shiro’s voice was in his ear, fast and low. “It’s all right, Keith, it’s okay. Just keep breathing. I know it hurts, I know it’s awful but just—”

Ulaz touched his bone and started to _move_ it. He screamed. 

“—oh, sweet one, starlight, I am so sorry. Just keep trying to breathe for me. Focus on my voice, just my voice—”

Something oozed into the wound and felt like ice over his bone. It didn’t numb the pain though, it just made it different. 

Keith didn’t know so many bones could be broken at once, or that you could remain conscious through such a thing. He did, though. Maybe it was the Galra in him that kept him conscious when Ulaz reset bones. Or perhaps endorphins and adrenaline kept him present while whatever the ice-gel was adhered to his insides. 

The broken bones Ulaz had to cut him open to get to were the worst. 

“ _Why_ aren’t we using anesthesia?” Shiro snarled while Ulaz worked on Keith’s ribs. 

“I can’t calculate what would help him and what could kill him on the fly, Shiro. He’s a hybrid we haven’t seen before.” He removed his fingers and whatever the ice-gel was started to coat them. “And we’re out of local.” 

Whatever stamina Keith had wore off at some point because he passed out and woke up in a bed. 

Every part of his body felt like it had been slammed in an iron vice. He groaned and that vocalization alone set him on fire. 

“Keith?”

He peeked an eye open to see Shiro leaning over him. “Hey,” he said softly.

Keith tried to open his mouth but his jaw felt swollen. It probably was. 

“It’s okay, just… blink once for yes, twice for no. Don’t try to talk or move, okay?” 

Keith blinked. 

“Do you remember what happened?”

Despite the dense fog of pain Keith could put enough together to figure it out. He blinked once. 

“All right. Are you in a lot of pain?”

_Blink_. 

Shiro’s ears flicked back and a fang popped out to worry at his lip. “The other Paladins haven’t fully finished their mission yet. We don’t know when we can get you into a pod. Do you… do you trust me to try something with you?” 

Blink. 

Shiro closed his eyes in relief. “I’m going to have to pick you up. I’m sorry, Keith.” 

He wasn’t sure why Shiro was so sorry until large hands scooped him up. Keith had been unaware that his pain could get worse. He also found the strength to scream. 

“I know. The serum Ulaz used has your bones in place. Nothing can shift or break until it heals. But I know from experience how much it still hurts.” Shiro cradled him as carefully as possible while he walked. Distantly, Keith became aware of the fact that he was naked. 

Changing in front of each other during missions was a given. He'd snuck more than a handful of glances at Shiro that way. Once caught Shiro looking back. Stripping in the back of a cruiser wasn't being prone in Shiro's wide palms, his body black and blue from bruising. He wanted to be distressed about being exposed like this, bare and broken in front of the person he’d been slowly falling for, but clothes sounded like a terrible idea right now. 

As they moved Keith realized they were in private quarters. Nice ones, even for the Blades. Likely senior quarters. He wondered if they were in there because of his injuries.

Shiro took them into the bathroom and gingerly laid Keith down in the huge tub. He was shocked to see it, but the pain of trying to be even semi-upright robbed him of further investigation. He whimpered as he tried to grapple with the position. 

“Quiznack,” Shiro growled. There was a rustling sound and then Keith was lifted again only to be settled back into Shiro’s lap in the tub. Now they were both naked. 

Shiro turned on the tap and dumped a large container of crystals into the water. They dissolved with a swish of his hand. The water that reached Keith’s legs fizzed and then it became warm. It felt soft against his skin, the buzz of it sinking into his flesh. He moaned and closed his eyes. 

Behind him Shiro hummed. “Good, it’s working.” 

The tub filled until it was up to Keith’s neck. He was reclined against Shiro’s chest, his ass cupped in one of Shiro’s hands, presumably so he wasn’t sitting directly over Shiro’s junk. Whatever was in the water was easing the pain. Full thoughts could almost happen now, so he decided to try speaking. 

“Wha’is this?” 

“Endvar salts. They promote healing and help with inflammation and bruising. We use them when other painkillers can’t be.” Shiro leaned his head down into Keith’s space and nuzzled the top of his head. 

“Ah.” Keith let himself fall into the touch, relaxing further against Shiro’s chest. What he had first thought was just extra fizzing from the salts was not. Shiro was purring. “Are you trying to help me calm down?”

“Yes,” Shiro said, his voice rumbling with the vibrations in his chest. “You scared me, little one. I need you to be okay.” He gathered Keith closer to him as gently as he could. “Your mother is only letting me court you so long as I keep you safe.” 

Keith frowned. “Court me?” 

Shiro stopped purring. “…yes? Keith, were you… did you not know?” 

“No,” Keith whispered. In his pain-addled brain all he could latch onto was that Shiro _liked_ him. “You like me?” he said. 

Shiro breathed out a laugh. “Yes, Keith. I’ve been enraptured by you since I met you. I thought…” he cleared his throat. “My apologies. I had thought you might feel the same, and when your mother gave permission I assumed that—”

“I like you too,” Keith blurted. “A lot. You’re kind, and strong, and you’re so smart. And, and I feel like I’m safe with you. I don’t have to be the leader around you, I can, I can just be me. Your ears so so soft, and you’re so _big_.” He groaned, his body clearly done with talking. “Shiro, everything hurts.”

The purring slowly started back up. “I know, starlight. Rest, I’ve got you.” He adjusted his grip so Keith was fully cradled in his arm, face tucked into his neck. “Is this all right?” 

“Mmm.” Keith pet a hand down his chest. “Big kitty.” 

Shiro chuckled and Keith fell back asleep to the rumbling. 

 

The next time he woke up the pain had ebbed enough to think clearly. He was back in the bed, a huge towel wrapped around him. The ceiling above him was rock. They were on Base Zeta-9 then. It explained the tub. The hot springs here were a luxury even the Blades couldn’t pass up. 

“You’re awake.”

Keith shifted his gaze to the right. Shiro was standing there, a loose pair of pants hung low around his hips and a jar in his hand. “I don’t know if I’d call this awake, but I feel more together than I did,” he rasped.

“Ah, right, the bath. Keith I’m sorry if I…” his ears drooped. 

“We can talk about it when I’m more healed,” Keith said. He desperately wanted to reach out to touch Shiro’s face. “It’s okay. I did mean it, what I said, though.”

Shiro perked up and smiled. “I brought some salve. It’s good for relaxing muscles and easing some pain. I can put it on if you like?”

Keith groaned. “Yeah. I’d like.” 

Shiro sat on the edge of the bed. He reached to the edge of the towel and started to untuck it. “I’m sorry for this, Keith. I didn’t want to put you in this position.”

Keith snorted. “It’s not exactly how I fantasized about it either, but it’s okay.” As the towel was pulled back he could see how badly he was bruised. Purple and yellow spread out along his body like a map of the universe, pale skin dotting it in patches. Clumps of something glue-like, dried and yellowed, rose up over deep gashes in skin. Spots where Ulaz no doubt had to cut him open. “Oh, shit.” 

The more he looked the more damage he saw. 

“ _Fuck_ ,” he whimpered. His breathing turned shallow until two warm fingers gently tilted his head away from the disaster of his body. 

“Look at me, starlight.”

Truncated breaths were still trying to squirm in and fill his lungs. His eyes burned. “Shiro.” His voice wobbled, panic setting in. 

“You’re all right, let all of the air out of your lungs.” Keith felt them constrict automatically. “Shh, it’s okay, I know, I know it hurts, but let it out. Trust me.”

Keith closed his eyes and pushed all of the air out for as longs he could. Until he burned for oxygen. 

“Now draw in, slowly, so slow, that’s it, little one.” Shiro’s hand carded though his hair. His thumb rubbed at Keith’s temple. Shiro walked him through breathing until the spinning panic behind his eyes stopped. 

“I’m okay. I’m okay.”  

“Not the best shape you’ve been in, but yes, you are okay, as you say.” Shiro opened the jar and set it next to Keith’s arm. “We are very lucky to have Ulaz.” He dipped two fingers into the jar and pulled back with a yellow salve on them. It smelled like citrus mixed with something that could have been cinnamon on a bad day. 

Shiro started at Keith’s collarbone, working the salve in slowly. Even with his fingers barely brushing skin, Keith was grimacing in pain. Once the salve was applied, though, the pain leeched out, replaced by a cool sensation. 

“Better?” Shiro asked, smoothing his hand along Keith’s ribs. 

“Yeah… yeah it’s getting better.” 

Shiro hesitated at his hip. Keith grunted in pain, not entirely in the mood for awkwardness at this point. They’d cuddled naked in a bathtub. Rubbing something into Keith’s hip was nothing. 

Still, Shiro was extra cautious as he did. “This isn’t at all how I pictured caressing your hips, little love.” 

“Don’t make me laugh, it hurts to laugh,” Keith said, a chuckle worming its way out anyway. “Not like it— _ah_ —can happen right now anyway. I don’t think anything could get it up in this state.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Shiro said. “Intimacy with a mate is often a way to take care of one another when upset.” 

“Doing my best not to,” Keith grunted. “I think I might actually shatter if we tried anything.”

Shiro swirled his finger down the side of Keith’s hipbone. “Your mother would kill me.”

“Can’t have that before we’ve even properly kissed.” Keith meant it in jest, but something flashed in Shiro’s eyes at the statement. 

“Perhaps I’ve been too… Galran, about all of this. Especially given you have not noticed my advances.” Shiro spread the slave over his palm and ran it down Keith’s leg. “Is there a human way of courting?” 

Keith considered as Shiro pressed the pad of his finger into his foot. “Not really anymore. Dates, care, time given, it all comes down to that. But there aren’t steps. In the human way, we probably would have already kissed.” He swallowed, and, brain to mouth filter complete off, said, “might’ve even fucked already.” 

Shiro’s ears flew up and he looked at Keith startled.”Are you serious?”

“Yes?” 

Shiro groaned and leaned over Keith’s legs. “Damn pods need to be here _soon_.” 

“I said we might have, not you could the minute I was better, big guy. Give me some time to get used to this being a reality.” 

Shiro moved on to his other leg with a smirk. “Of course.” He smoothed his hand along battered skin, muscle, and bone. His fingers never pressed harder than just enough to let the salve soak in. Gentle as a lamb, curled over Keith like he was. “But I do want you. Since the moment you threw me on on my back when we first fought.”

“You won that fight,” Keith said frowning. “I only had you pinned for half a tick.”

Shiro smirked. “I know. So tiny and fierce, I was completely caught off guard.” He cupped Keith’s shoulder in his hand. Keith hissed, the pain radiating out from the touch and the movement. “I’m sorry, little love. Do you think I can have you flip over?” 

Kieth sucked air in through his teeth. “We can try.” 

Slowly, glacially, Shiro cradled Keith’s back and front between his hands and set him on his stomach. Pain blazed through him. He shouted in agony until he was on his belly, dull aches pulsing out along his skeleton. Shiro was immediately there with the salve, cooing sweetly in his ear. “You’re so strong. So fierce, my starlight. It’s all right, I’m here, I’ll take care of you.” 

Keith laid there until the salve buzzed along his skin, pleasantly stealing the pain away in increments. Shiro was curled around him, protective, gently purring. 

“Rest, brave one,” Shiro rumbled. “You can rest now.” 

 

The Castle of Lions came. 

Shiro wrapped Keith up in a blanket, cradling him close and away from prying eyes. Keith shuddered against him, determined not to whimper through the ordeal. They got him into a pod and he was healed in a matter of vargas. 

He came out during ships’ night. The pod hissed open and the queasy, disoriented drowsiness fell over him like a heavy curtain. There was only one other soul in the room, looming in the darkness to Keith’s left. 

Here in the castle Shiro looked huge. His head was only barely supported by his fist, elbow precariously on his knee. He hulked in this space, sitting on the top step with his legs stretched all the way to the bottom. His ears twitched in his sleep, head nodding on his fist. 

Keith stumbled over to him, legs like jelly and coordination shot to hell. He fell more than sat at Shiro’s feet, leaning into his leg. He was in his civilian clothes and warm through the fabric of his pants. 

“…Keith?”

“Mmm.” Keith nuzzled into Shiro’s leg. He was still exhausted and post-pod drunk. “I wasn’t… I wasn’t pain-hallucinating what you said. Was I?”

Big, warm, tender hands tucked themselves under his arms and he was hauled up into Shiro’s lap. He sighed, settling in and pressing his face into Shiro’s neck. 

“No, Keith.” Shiro’s lips brushed his temple. The touch was feather light, almost not there. “You didn’t imagine anything. I would like nothing more than the chance to be your mate.” 

Keith pulled his head up to look into Shiro’s eyes. Like all Galra they were a striking violet, but they bled into sterling at the center. It wasn’t something you could see unless you were close up. Like he was now. So very close. 

Keith leaned in first, a soft press of lips against Shiro’s. Beneath him Shiro stilled, waiting, holding his breath against Keith’s chest. Keith trailed his hand up over the simple shirt Shiro wore and pressed his palm against his cheek. Shiro moved into the kiss then. Plush lips met Keith’s over and over. Firm and slow. Heat in his gut simmered and stirred. 

Shiro’s tongue made its appearance, tracing meekly along the seam of Keith’s lips. He parted them, letting Shiro lick in slow. His tongue was huge, like him, and it felt less like any kiss Keith had ever had and more like Shiro was slowly fucking his mouth. He wasn’t sure he was supposed to get this hard right out of intensive healing, but _god_ he wanted to choke on that tongue. 

Shiro pulled back, lips still wet, tongue flicking out to lick up the taste of Keith on them. Keith’s own mouth felt plundered. He wondered if his lips were as swollen as they felt. If his open mouth was drooling. If his eyes were fuck-glazed. 

It had only been one kiss. 

“Is this how you do it on Earth?” Shiro asked into Keith’s ear. He captured the lobe and sucked, teeth just teasing the tender flesh. “How you court your other?” Shiro’s mouth dropped to his neck, mouthing liberally at Keith’s pulse. 

He whined. He wasn’t proud of it but it was the only semi-coherent sound he could make. 

“I want to bruise you with my mouth. I want marks on your skin from _me._ Not some errant cannon fire. Keith, please, tell me I can mark you. If we’re—if you’re—I can’t handle another day without them _knowing_ —”

“Yes, fuck _yes_ , Shiro please—Ah!” 

Biting was sexy. Biting and nipping and teasing with teeth was a given. This was a full on _bite_.

Shiro pulled back almost immediately, licking at the wound. “It’s shallow, it’s not a mating bite, I promise, but now. _Now_ they can’t say anything about you. No attempts to claim, no remarks. Nothing.” 

Keith laughed breathlessly. “Have there been many?” 

Shiro growled. “ _You have no idea_.” 

He felt it in his gut then. The knee jerk instinct Shiro and his mother had been teaching him to listen to. Like Kolivan had been drilling into him. The pull of his other, the Galra blood singing inside of him. He didn’t need a mirror to know his eyes had taken a golden hue, or that his nails were thick and tapered. He didn’t need them right now anyway. 

“And you?” Keith rasped along fresh fangs. They pricked along Shiro’s skin, catching against it. Beneath him Shiro purred and bared his neck for Keith. He sunk into him, his little fangs just teasing through the thick skin. He felt Shiro’s cock harden beneath him as he pulled back and licked at the little pinpricks of blood. 

“You are still recovering,” Shiro growled when Keith canted his hips down into that _enormous_ heat. 

“Then you’ll just have to be gentle.” He pushed his hands up behind Shiro’s ears, elongated nails finding the skin under the hair there and scratching lightly. “Lay me out like a good mate and take care of me.”

Shiro stood in a single fluid movement, walking quickly out of the room and down the hall toward Keith’s quarters. Keith could _feel_ the bob of that cock under his ass as they moved. 

Perhaps he’d end up back in the healing pod until morning after all. 


End file.
